The three-legged stool of management used to be forecast, plan and execute; however, these days, the very best forecasters don’t think they can see accurately more than 400 days out and for most people, the horizon is just 150 days.

That’s the view of world-renowned TED presenter, author and academic, Dr Margaret Heffernan who will jet in via webinar to address Shannon Chamber members and the business community generally on Thursday, 25 June. The webinar, which runs from 2pm until 3pm is supported by Shannon Chamber human resources’ advisory company, Adare Human Resource Management.

Announcing the webinar, Shannon Chamber CEO Helen Downes stated: “There is no doubt that the current uncertainty is here to stay and, according to Dr Heffernan, whom I have long discussions with, this will call for a new kind of leadership and a different definition of success.

“We are delighted to have secured a speaker of this calibre. She comes highly recommended by Verne Harnish, who draw a large audience and huge commendation when he delivered a one-day strategic workshop for corporate teams in Dromoland Castle last year.

“In this webinar, Dr Heffernan will be drawing on her new book UNCHARTED, published just weeks before lockdown. She will look at how companies have weathered existential crises in the past, how preparedness meets planning and the perils of tying everything to efficiency.

“Dr Heffernan firmly believes that adaptation, flexibility and strong investment in people is key to building organisations that can weather and prosper in the storms of today, and tomorrow. 

“Reviewers of her latest book have described it as a fascinating read that leaves the reader better equipped to handle the uncertainties of life and that it highlights how important to our futures it is to think freely, to approach the world with deep intellectual curiosity and an open mind.

“COVID-19 has and is changing our lives; we are being forced to imagine different futures and plan in a different way. This is just the type in inspirational speaker we need to help us along the way. I would encourage all leaders, be that in business or life, who have an hour to spare on Thursday, 25 June to book in for what promises to be a thought-provoking sixty minutes,” added Ms Downes.

To reserve a  place on this webinar log onto www.shannonchamber.ie/events-training

ENDS

About Dr Margaret Heffernan

Dr Margaret Heffernan produced programmes for the BBC for 13 years.  She then moved to the US where she spearheaded multimedia productions for Intuit, The Learning Company and Standard&Poors. She was Chief Executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and then iCast Corporation, was named one of the “Top 25” by Streaming Media magazine and one of the “Top 100 Media Executives” by The Hollywood Reporter. 

The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, ‘Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril’ was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, she was awarded the Transmission Prize for ’A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as “meticulously researched, engagingly written, universally relevant and hard to fault.”

Her TED talks have been seen by over twelve million people and in 2015, TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. 

Her most recent book, Uncharted: How to map the future, was published in 2020.

She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme and, through Merryck & Co., mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath and continues to write for the Financial Times and the Huffington Post.